It's the system, and this is what the media and Liverpool fans never understand. If any decent team in this league implemented an all out pressing style then they'd be good going forward without a doubt. Leicester did it for a season and won the league and are still a decent side by doing it. You get all your players to chase the ball high up the pitch then when you win it back you are immediately 3 v 2 or one on one. Liverpool under Rodgers did it brilliantly too. The advantages are that against teams who want possession but are poor with it (us, Arsenal) you can absolutely destroy them. Away from home too, you can get huge wins as teams tend to attack in front of their own fans. It also allows you to score a lot of goals without having world class attacking players.
The draw backs though are that even with world class defenders you'll never have a world class defence because they'll always get exposed. Liverpool fans will never accept this though, if they want to improve their defence their attack will suffer. Salah is not world class, neither is Firmino, they're nowhere near Aguero Kane Lukaku Hazard etc. Yet they're considered to be a great forward line because of that system they play. The problem comes in home games v teams who don't want to attack the system doesn't work then you get blunted (which happens loads to them) or against teams better at counter attacking than you (Leicester) you also get punished.
Their fans are partly to blame. If any manager tried to implement a balanced possession system that might take a few years to build up they'd be hounded out. Whenever Rodgers tried to do it they hated him for it. They just want gung ho. 'We've got the best attack in der league lads ha ha, we tore der blooz and der arse new ones, no one can live with our attack blah blah blah blah blah'. Yet every season they have a rubbish defence and can't beat Minnows at home.
It's basically like putting every man behind the ball and claiming you have a great defence that is only one class striker signing short of being the best team in the league. Going gung ho is undoubtedly more entertaining and gets you more media columns but the outcome is the same. Zero trophies. Maybe they should look at their last decent manager Rafael who actually built a good defence, strong midfield, and then good strikers, they were actually a top aide only second to a brilliant United team. All they did the entire time he was there though was moan that the football was too defensive.
They're just completely self absorbed as a club, they're wrapped up in their own media image and therefore demand a completely ridiculous stuff of football based on a ludicrous image of themselves just crushing everyone with free flowing football. They should remember that some of their best ever sides were actually unbelievably boring and that as a club they've never had a reputation for good football only for winning. The 'Liverpool way, pass and move' is actually a complete fabrication. They had overphysical sides with top defenders and paired these with great strikers. Maybe they should think about this when questioning why they've not won anything for ages; but that would require a level of introspection beyond most kopites.
